Charles Bolden was placed in charge of NASA by President Obama. He seems like a great guy and has had many successes. 

There are a few things that concern me in a speech, to what appeared to be the House of Representatives, he emphasized the inclusion of Blacks and Hispanics in the future of space exploration. Well that should go without saying, since these projects would require the very best man has to offer, on merit not race. Is there some kind of inherent racism built into the science world? I don't think really mindful scientist would care too much.

In another video he is being interviewed by Al Jazeera and states President Obama emphasized the reaching out to Muslim nations. The reason he gives for this, is because to go further into space exploration, the US will require the help of all  capable nations.

Of course, sounds somewhat reasonable, but why the emphasis on predominately Muslim countries?

The Constellation Project was canceled due to lack of funding and the belief NASA hit a brick wall with the project. Was the budget reduced to reflect this change? No it actually increased. So what's the money for now? It appears the new administrative model will spend the money on private contractors and foreign entities to move forward with space exploration.

Again, here we see corporations taking over a pretty significant chunk of the government money that is paid to them by taxpayers. I will emphasize I would prefer business take part in many aspects of space exploration, but sell their products and technologies when they have been developed, not before with some government restrictions, that it has to be a Muslim country with 50 percent black and 25 percent Hispanic etc. I know I'm exaggerating here, but you get the picture.

It use to be the USA would just go out and get the best scientist the world had to offer and solve the problems that were put in front of them. Operation Paperclip, is a testament to that, so who has replaced the great minds that have left NASA and why has NASA hit a wall? Is it because we as a species cannot produce enough great minds or more likely greedy corporations make offers to scientist they can't refuse?

With Operation Paperclip the Nazi scientist either took the deal or went to jail. Has the US government lost it's leadership ability and simply opening the flood gates to more corporate greed. I suppose we will find out in the coming years.

Here are the links to the videos:

http://vimeo.com/7617003 2min 50 seconds. Why race statement?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e857ZcuIfnI   Interview with Al Jazeera